1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for machining slots through a piston-ring groove into the interior of the piston. More particularly, it relates to machining slots in the pressure and counterpressure sides of the piston where the walls are thinnest in the radial direction.
2. The Prior Art
Radial through-slots machined through the piston ring groove of a piston are known, for example, from CH-Z (Swiss journal) "Technica. 1980 Issue 25/26, page 2277-2313, FIG. 12." These slots generally have the purpose of separating the piston head from the shaft in the areas of the pressure and counterpressure sides of the piston. If the piston ring grooves of a plunger piston for internal combustion motors are placed exclusively in the piston head above the shaft, the stated radial through-slots will be located in the lowest ring groove adjacent to the piston shaft. The oil strip ring is then placed into this ring groove. Some oil rings are held under tension by a tubular spring placed radially on the inside of the oil strip ring. If these tubular springs have a low coil diameter, for example, less than 2 mm, the tubular springs may jam into the radial through-slots. In order to prevent this, the radial through-slots must be constructed with a lesser height than the coil diameter of the tubular spring.
With the previous manufacturing methods, it was frequently not possible to guarantee adherence to close tolerances of an axially low through-slot. This especially applies to cast pistons. These pistons are cast in such a way that when the groove is machined in, a slot occurs in the area of the pressure and counter-pressure sides. In these cases, it is not always possible to maintain close tolerances for the through-slots with any certainty.